--- title: FAQ description: Frequently asked questions about the PointBay WooCommerce loyalty plugin. --- Answers to the most common questions about setting up and using PointBay. If your question isn't here, check [Troubleshooting](/pointbay/resources/troubleshooting/) for issue-specific fixes. --- ## General ### What is PointBay? PointBay is a customer rewards plugin for WooCommerce. Customers earn points for purchases and optionally for registering or leaving reviews and redeem those points for discounts at checkout. ### What's the difference between the free plugin and PointBay Pro? The free plugin covers everything needed to run a points program: earning points, redeeming them at checkout, the customer dashboard, Points History, manual adjustments, and the full [Referral Program](/pointbay/features/referral-program/) (referral links and the referrer's bonus). **PointBay Pro** adds [VIP Tiers](/pointbay/features/vip-tiers/) (membership levels that earn points faster) and a welcome bonus for the new customer on top of the free referral program. Pro requires the free plugin to be active alongside it. | Capability | Free | Pro | |---|---|---| | Earning points (purchases, registration, reviews) | ✅ | ✅ | | Redeeming points at checkout (Classic + Block) | ✅ | ✅ | | Customer Dashboard (My Rewards: balance, history) | ✅ | ✅ | | Points History ledger, CSV export, manual adjustments | ✅ | ✅ | | Referral links + referrer's bonus | ✅ | ✅ | | Welcome bonus for the *new* (referred) customer | | ✅ | | VIP Tiers (membership levels, earning multipliers) | | ✅ | | Automatic update notifications (license) | | ✅ | ### Where do I find the settings? Everything is under the **WooCommerce** menu: settings at **WooCommerce → Settings → Loyalty Points** (also reachable via the shorter **Loyalty** link), and the full transaction record at **WooCommerce → Points History**. See the [Settings Reference](/pointbay/admin/settings-reference/) for every field. ### Does it work with the WooCommerce Block Checkout? Yes PointBay works identically with both the modern Block checkout and the traditional Classic checkout, with no extra configuration needed for either. ### Does it support guest checkout? Customers need a registered account to earn or redeem points. Guests can't earn points, but PointBay shows them a notice at checkout encouraging them to create an account so they don't miss out you can turn this notice on or off with the **Guest Notice** setting. --- ## Earning Points ### When are points credited? Automatically, when an order reaches the status you've chosen in **Order Status Trigger** **Completed** by default, or **Processing** if you'd rather award points as soon as payment is taken instead of waiting for fulfillment. ### What happens if an order is refunded? The points earned on that order are automatically taken back fully for a full refund, or proportionally for a partial refund. If the customer already spent those points, their balance can go negative until they earn their way back to positive. See [Earning Points](/pointbay/features/earning-points/#refunds-and-reversals) for the full math. ### Why didn't a customer get their review bonus? Only a customer's *first* approved review of a given product earns points, and reviews left by guests never qualify. --- ## Redeeming Points ### How do customers redeem points? Logged-in customers who meet the minimum balance see a **Redeem Loyalty Points** panel at checkout. They choose how many points to apply, see a live discount preview, and click **Apply Discount**. ### What's the difference between Cart Fee and Virtual Coupon modes? **Cart Fee** applies the discount as a negative line on the cart clean and simple, and the default. **Virtual Coupon** applies it as an automatically generated coupon instead, which works more reliably with automated tax services like TaxJar or Avalara. If your tax totals look wrong after a redemption, switch to Virtual Coupon. ### Can customers redeem only part of their balance? Yes. Customers choose exactly how many points to apply, up to whichever is lower: their balance, or the order total. --- ## VIP Tiers (Pro) ### How is a customer's tier calculated? By the points they've **earned in the last 365 days** a rolling window, not their all-time total or current spendable balance. Points earned more than a year ago stop counting toward tier status. ### Why did a loyal customer's tier drop? Their qualifying points likely aged out of the 365-day window since their last purchase. Tiers are re-checked automatically once a day, so a quiet customer will eventually be moved down this is expected, not a bug. --- ## Referral Program ### Do referrers get rewarded more than once for the same friend? No. A referrer is rewarded only on their referred friend's *first* completed order later purchases by that same friend don't earn any additional bonus. ### What happens if a referred order is refunded? If the friend's qualifying first order is fully refunded, cancelled, or fails, both the referrer's bonus and the new customer's welcome bonus are automatically reversed. Partial refunds don't trigger a referral reversal. --- ## Data ### Is my data deleted when I uninstall the plugin? No your data is kept by default. It's only permanently removed if you turn on **Delete Data on Uninstall** in **Display & System** settings before deleting the plugin, and that action can't be undone.